Commentary: Martin guitars hit 1 million on high note

 *Christian F. Martin IV was born into his destiny.  Part of the sixth 
 *generation of the Martin family that had already made its name by 
 *building high-quality acoustic guitars, Chris Martin took over the 
 *company in 1986 when his grandfather died at age 92. 
        NASHVILLE, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- It was a tough time for the  
company, which today is the oldest acoustic guitar maker in the 
world. That year, the company built less than 4,000 guitars and 
considered folding. In 2002, Martin Guitar Co., based in Nazareth, 
Penn., sold 77,000 guitars, earning $77 million in revenue. A new 
book, "Martin Guitar Masterpieces," written by Dick Boak, head of 
artist relations at Martin, captures in anecdotal form the 
relationship between Martin guitars and hundreds of celebrities 
through the years. 
        In January 2004, the one-millionth Martin will make its  
debut at the annual NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif. As Martin Guitar 
celebrates its 170th anniversary, Martin, 48, recently discussed why 
the company continues to grow despite a tough economy, what having a 
family-owned business means for the integrity and the future of the 
Martin guitar, and his passion for finding alternatives to the rare 
woods that have made Martin guitars famous. 

 *UPI. Of the many different Martin models, if you had to pick one,  
 *which would you choose? 
        Chris Martin: I would say the HD-28 with scalloped bracing.  
We've done a great job convincing people that rosewood, mahogany, 
ebony and spruce make great sounding guitars. Those materials are 
getting harder to get. Now we need to convince people that walnut 
works, cherry works, maple works. 
        Q. How is Martin addressing that issue?  
        A. We have several models now that come with independent  
certification that the wood for that guitar came from a tree farm. 
Once I realized those woods are out there, I felt it was imperative 
that we get them to the market quickly. Ironically, none of our 
competitors have yet done that. Shame on them! Shame on them for not 
having at least one model that came from a tree farm. Unfortunately, 
you can't get tree-farmed rosewood, you can't get tree-farmed ebony. 
They should have planted the trees 50 years ago and harvested them 
judiciously.  Even though people are planting now, for our purposes, 
I'll be much grayer before those trees are cut. 
        Q. Because you are a family-owned operation, tell me about  
the work environment at Martin. 
        A. More and more today, I'm just appalled at the way bigger,  
non-family run, particularly publicly traded companies, treat their 
employees. Because it's a family business, not only does the 
consumer feel good about it, my co-workers feel good about it. When 
they see how I agonize over issues they read about in the paper, 
where other companies just do it. ... I try very hard not to put my 
co-workers in a place where they fear me or the company or its 
motives. 
        Q. How does that, in the end, affect the product?  
        A. We are quality-driven. My colleagues love the fact that  
we make the best of its kind. They help get me there. We 
occasionally, as managers, struggle with how do we bring them back 
to earth, in terms of "You've done enough sanding; it's shiny 
enough." It's never an issue of could you bring the quality up? It's 
like, "OK, bring them back to earth. We're trying to run a business 
here." 
        Q. How do you balance caring passionately about the  
employees, about the product, and yet, as the company president and 
a businessman, there are time when you must make hard decisions? 
        A. I have to say that sometimes I put the hard decisions off  
as long as possible. I enter into a dialogue with as many managers 
as I can, saying this is where we might have to go, give me your 
opinion. I think that gives them a heads-up. I think all too often 
upper management thinks middle management knows what's going on. ... 
So by having this dialogue, even if we have to make this decision, 
we're bringing them along. So when the decision comes down, they go 
"OK, Chris told us this was coming." 
        Q. How does Martin not only survive, but thrive, in what has  
been tough economic times? 
        A. It's challenging, I'll tell you. Fortunately, we've been  
through these before. There were times when my ancestors had to cut 
back. We had to cut back in the late seventies and eighties. This 
time around, we saw it coming. We didn't want to believe it. But we 
stopped hiring last November, even though we were getting pressure 
from manufacturing that said we need some more. We said "Look, 
there's a lot of uncertainty out there. If we bring on another 
mouth, we have to feed it." 
        This year, in particular, we're becoming part of the  
problem. We've cut back significantly on capital expenditures, so 
now we're not fueling the economy. You read a lot in the business 
press about capital investment. Through the nineties, we re-invested 
over $20 million in the business, profits that were filed back in to 
expand to put in better climate control, more accurate retooling and 
fixtures. This year, our capital budget has been gutted, so that we 
can preserve cash. 
        Q. What's in the future for Martin guitars, or perhaps the  
guitar industry, in general? 
        A. There has certainly been a quick migration to China for  
the beginner level, student, cheap guitar. That happened very 
quickly. ... China went quickly from making junk to guitars that 
function, more or less. It doesn't affect us a lot, except that I'm 
always happy to know that there are functional, affordable guitars 
out there for the person who's not going to start at a Martin. I 
wish they would, but they are going to start on a cheap guitar. If 
they get a cheap guitar that works, I think they might stick with 
it. 
        My biggest fear about the guitar, and fortunately for the  
past couple thousand years this hasn't played itself out, but so 
much of life has gotten so simple. When I was younger, my mom got me 
a used 35mm camera and I had to read the book and run off several 
rolls of film before I figured out all that stuff that it did. You 
buy a camera today, point and shoot. The guitar is as complicated to 
learn how to play as it's ever been. And here is an example of an 
individual who never got it. 
        Q. You don't play?  
        A. No. I took lessons. I didn't practice much. I get home  
from work now, I've got to do something else. I'm living, eating, 
breathing guitars all day long, plus. And if I was anywhere, people 
would ask me to play. And if I wasn't at least as good as Eric 
Clapton, they'd be very disappointed. 
        What excites me is guitar physics, guitar construction,  
design. That's what I think about. We are trying to make the perfect 
guitar. We have been trying for 170 years and we're closer than 
we've ever been. 
        Q. What's changing that's getting you closer?  
        A. Just the refinements of the extraordinary designs that my  
ancestors created. My ancestors developed these designs. It's all 
plus or minus in manufacturing. We're building closer to that design 
than we ever were. We are more consistent to the ultimate shape, the 
shape that's more ideal, as we see it. As scarce as the wood itself 
is getting, the quality of the cut is better. There again, you've 
got some of those old hippies who are out in the forests saying "If 
you're going to sell this wood to a guitar maker, then you've got to 
cut it this way." That's really helped. All throughout the chain, 
everybody is more passionate, more knowledgeable about guitars and 
guitar history and refining some of the classical designs.